A conservative advocacy group is launching new ads in two states defending Republican attorneys general involved in a lawsuit targeting major Wall Street firms.
Consumers’ Defense said the ads started airing on Wednesday in Alabama and Iowa. The campaign backs Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird as they face criticism tied to the case.
The lawsuit, filed in Texas, targets BlackRock, State Street Corporation and Vanguard Group.
Consumers’ Defense President Will Hild sharply criticized BlackRock and its leadership.
“BlackRock CEO Larry Fink decided long ago to trade fiduciary duty for woke activism, with Larry Fink openly bragging that you have to ‘force behaviors’ to get companies and consumers to fall in line with his far-left ideology,” Hild told The Center Square via email. “ESG has been a tool BlackRock has used to force a political agenda onto consumers by using 401k and pension dollars entrusted to them to threaten C-suites and corporate boards into raising costs on consumers and ignoring their interests.
“That is not how a free market works, and BlackRock has no right to use other people’s hard-earned money to reshape American society,” he said. “Consumers’ Research will keep exposing the ESG scam and working to shut down BlackRock’s woke antics so consumers’ hard-earned dollars are used to prioritize strong financial returns, not a woke agenda.”
The firms are accused of coordinating to limit coal production through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing strategies.
The ads argue the policies pushed by large financial firms hurt consumers and raise energy costs.
One ad airing in Iowa says “while Wall Street goes woke, Main Street goes broke,” and credits Bird with “fighting back” against what it describes as a climate-driven agenda.
An Alabama ad makes a similar case, saying Marshall is “holding the line” against policies that it claims raise energy prices and harm local industries.
Hild said the ads counter what he described as misinformation about the lawsuit.
“The American people are being fed absurd claims that sound like they were written in BlackRock’s boardroom and echoed by rent-a-Republicans willing to twist basic facts for a paycheck,” Hild said.
He said the lawsuit is about protecting workers and retirees with savings tied to investment funds.
“Pension funds are the hard-earned savings of workers and retirees, not a cudgel for woke agendas to rot companies from within and raise prices for consumers without the consent of the people whose money is at stake,” Hild said.
Supporters of the lawsuit argue that large asset managers used their influence to push coal companies to reduce production, distorting the market.
Critics have argued that the case could lead to higher energy costs.
Hild rejected that claim.
“The argument that the AG’s lawsuit would reduce coal production is the opposite of reality for several reasons,” Hild said.
He said asset managers pressured coal companies to limit investment in future production and that investors could shift funds elsewhere if restrictions are removed.
“In other words, BlackRock and State Street lose, not the coal companies or clients,” Hild said.
He also pointed to a recent settlement involving Vanguard, which agreed to pay nearly $30 million and limit certain ESG-related activities.
“The goal is obviously to increase investment in coal production by ending the collusion of the defendants who have been suppressing the industry intentionally,” Hild said.
